Senior Category Manager

Tenneco is one of the world’s leading designer, manufacturers and marketers of automotive products for original equipment and aftermarket customers, with approximately 78.000 team members working at more than 300 sites worldwide. Through our four business groups, Motorparts, Ride Performance, Clean Air and Powertrain, Tenneco is driving advancements in global mobility by delivering technology solutions for diversified global markets, including light vehicle, commercial truck, off-highway, industrial, motorsport and the aftermarket.

This position is responsible for leading value generation, sourcing, and profitability improvement initiatives to optimize indirect and corporate spend. Close interaction and coordination with internal partners and external suppliers is required.  Success will be measured on spend addressed, savings achieved, and working capital impact. The central challenge of the position is to capture value from indirect spend categories while meeting key business objectives such as service, quality, timing, and security of supply.  The position may be based in Northville, MI and reports directly to the Executive Director, Indirect Procurement.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Help to drive corporate indirect procurement and profit improvement, while delivering the following to the business:
  • Category Planning:
    • Work with corporate team, business units, and regional stakeholders to prioritize an evolving portfolio of high-value process improvement and sourcing initiatives.
    • Serve as a full partner to the business in evaluating and challenging the status quo to surface value opportunities.
    • Lead the aggregation, normalization, and analysis of spend data to identify potential value opportunities. 
    • Ensure proper sequencing and business support for value capture initiatives.
  • Sourcing and Contracting:
    • Drive sourcing projects emerging from category planning.
    • Define goals, including roles and responsibilities of stakeholders.
    • Incorporate business requirements into sourcing plans and RFP strategies.
    • Manage the planning and launch of RFx events, leveraging eSourcing tools as appropriate. 
    • Enhance competition by leveraging spend and qualified new suppliers.
    • Leverage market trends and intelligence to drive value and provide guidance to stakeholders and businesses.
    • Coordinate and lead negotiations; help stakeholders understand trade‐offs and benefits of negotiation strategies/outcomes.
    • Develop global/regional contracts that are commercially sound and provide optimum protection of company assets. Develop comprehensive implementation with stakeholders and end users.
    • Quantify and report both identified and implemented sourcing project results.
  • Process Improvement and Strategy Development:
    • Identify and capture profit improvement opportunities beyond leveraged sourcing, e.g., demand management opportunities, insource versus outsource decisions, efficiencies in the company’s comprehensive supply chain, and/or other strategic and operational process improvements.
    • Ensure appropriate cross-functional partnering on process improvement projects.
    • Track and work with corporate finance to report results for identified projects and when applicable, work with other functions across company to replicate projects with positive results.
  • Supplier Relationship Management:
    • Foster relationships with suppliers to create short-term and long-term value for the company.
    • Lead global business reviews with strategic suppliers to ensure performance against contracted obligations and business unit expectations.
    • Anticipate and minimize performance issues via use of key performance indicators (KPIs).
    • When performance issues emerge, identify root causes and drive for efficient resolution of issues at hand by working across both internal and external stakeholders.

Minimum Requirements

Education:  Bachelor’s Degree in business, engineering, or related field.  MBA or other advance degree preferred

Experience: Minimum of 5 years of experience in Supply Chain Management, Procurement, or similar roles. 

Travel: 35 - 40%

Skills

• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills (strong background in data collection & analysis is a must have) to drive fact-based decision making.
• In-depth experience with world-class strategic sourcing and category management practices, including e-Sourcing.
• Self-confidence and clarity of expression to lead discussions with internal executive audiences, and challenge current practices.
• Hands-on experience leading multi-regional or global initiatives.
• Proficient in relevant supply chain and business software, such as SAP and ERP programs.
• Experience managing indirect spend categories using multi-step strategic sourcing processes, especially Facility Services and Supply, MRO, and Capital Equipment, .
• Track record of managing change through influence; capable of driving major commercial decisions across a diverse set of internal stakeholders. 
• Expert-level financial and analytical skills; embraces fact‐based decision making; naturally seeks to leverage and/or integrate market data, spend analytics, and cost modeling. 
• Strong project management skills, including stakeholder, timeline, and meeting management skills.
• Strong negotiation skills; expert understanding of terms, conditions, and contracting techniques for managing risk.
• Excellent communication skills, including written, verbal and presentation skills; comfortable and credible with both internal stakeholders and external audiences. 
• Able to work up, down, and across a large organization; connects at all levels, i.e., operations, management, executives.
• A flexible, dynamic, self-demanding and proactive individual; able to motivate him/herself and others; easily accepts constructive input from others.

An Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.